Day 11 - Sign Language

Baby sign language has been around for a while.  I tried it out with my first born, but just didn't stick to it.  And he started talking rather quickly.  All 3 of Eisley's siblings were talking at an early age.  Lexi was saying Momma at 5 months - really!  This time around we are all going to be learning some sign language.

Most kids with Down syndrome have speech delays and quite often their expressive language is slower to develop than their receptive language.  What does this mean?  They understand what you are saying and know what they want, but just can't tell you.  As you can imagine, this can cause a lot of frustration for the children and their parents, as the kids can't communicate as effectively as they'd like, and this stage might drag on much longer than for a typically developing child.

As well as speech delays, many children with Down syndrome also have a degree of hearing loss.  Fortunately, Eisley has passed all of her hearing screens so far - even when she wasn't expected to with the NG tube in place.  Yeah!

Thus, enters the sign language - just another way to communicate needs and wants.  We've purchased a couple videos from Baby Signing Time and Keira has become the master interpreter/instructor at our house.  This is definitely an area we need to be more active with and make ourselves learn and teach Eisley.  The teaching (and learning for that matter) comes with repetition.  She does know the sign for Mommy and Daddy, although she likes to sign Daddy on his head rather than her own!  Hey- that tells me she knows what it means too, not just copying some motions.
 
I just read about a bundle of DVD's that focus on words for family members, social greetings and daily routines.  Hmmm....this may be on Eisley's wish list for Christmas. 
 

I haven't yet captured Miss E talking with her hands, but check out her friend Macy saying "Mommy".  Absolutely precious!